The Reader: Book One of Sea of Ink and Gold, by Traci Chee

I've said it before, but...I'm not a big fantasy genre fan. I like to read about real events, or at least how real people react and respond to real life situations, even if they are somewhat far-fetched - that's just me! However, as I encourage you to do, I try to stretch my genre preferences now and again and delve into something unusual for me. The Reader by Traci Chee has a very cool cover, and when it came out it got a lot of good reviews, and so it's always been at the edge of my reading perifery. It just happened to be available at the local library last week, so I thought I's give it a try.

Apparently, this is the first YA book for Chee, and the first book in a trilogy (I just added the second book to the BMS library collection...we already have this book, number one, and I will soon add book three). The good reviews are warranted! It was a real page-turner, reminding me a lot of Fablehaven or Inkheart. Chee creates a new world, and writes three different story lines that, as the book progresses, eventually begin to work off of each other, until they come completely together, making the page-turning even faster! A strong female protagonist, great action, a story revolving around the power of words, especially the written word...and, of course, danger, death, destruction, lies, cheating, some violence...what more could you ask for?!  I can't say for sure that I will read the second book, because I really am ready for something back in my reading preferences, at least for the next few books. But I do recommend The Reader - I'll bet you won't be able to put it down, either!
4 paws!

The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo

Sometimes you read a book and just want it to keep going, and going...and going.  This is one of those books! I first thought from the title that this book would somehow have something to do with Malcolm X, one of my favorite people in history, and I waited to read it until I was ready to dig into Black American history. It is not about Malcolm X, but X is short for Xiomara, the protagonist and narrator of this story. The Poet X is the name she uses when she starts to participate in poetry slams.

The book is written in poetry style, like The Crossover, another of my fave books. But unlike The Crossover, this story is about a young Latina from the Dominican Republic, living in the United States, a sophomore in high school, navigating family, God, boys, men, romantic relationships (the details get a little strong here...meant for older middle and high school readers, probably), a twin brother and best friend, expectations from all of these places...and more. It is REALLY well written - some of the best writing I have read for YAs and teens in a long time. I know Acevedo has a new book out, although The Poet X is only one year old, and I will definitely get to it! I cannot think of another Latina or Latino author that is currently writing about the LatinX experience in America today, let alone anyone doing it with such beautiful writing and insight as Acevedo. A National Book Award finalist, a Printz Award winner, and a Pure Belpre Award winner!  I love this book - I think you will, too! 5 paws!

The Unteachables, by Gordon Korman

Ah, Gordon Korman!  According to the book jacket for this book, he has written about 90 books for teens and young adults...yep, he knows what he's doing! The Unteacahables is his latest, and if you know Korman's work, you'll know this one, too, and probably like it! Easy to follow, great characters, funny, fast, good story line but nothing super new or groundbreaking.  Not as good as some of his better books, like Schooled, Ungifted, Masterminds, or even No More Dead Dogs, but still pretty good. Worth your time if you like lighter and often funny, well-written books that will not tax your brain very much - a great "beach read" for middle school! 3 paws!

Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun, by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke

Oh my...one review describes this book as a "page-turner", and it definitely is that! I couldn't hardly wait to read the next page, no matter what page I had just finished! In addition, I had to go back and check some of my usual review sources to see the age group this book was being recommended for...I still cannot believe it is being recommended for 6th graders and above - the details of the war, of different characters being tortured or killed, I found to be really dark and really descriptive - not that fans of fantasy and horror wouldn't like it, just that I'm not sure I would say 6th graders would be part of the target audience here...you be the judge of that!

All that said, this book is awesome! A mix of World War 2 Spain, underworld beings and creatures, fairies, the beauty and ugliness of humanity, struggle, wealth and poverty, gender inequalities, oh, and murder and torture. This book covers a lot of ground, and does it in a way that makes it difficult not to read the next page! I am not familiar with the movie version of Pan's Labyrinth, but perhaps some of you are. I am familiar with Funke, who has written some of the best fantasy in YA and teen lit, in my opinion - Inkheart being my favorite, but also Dragon Rider and others. It's been a while since I've read anything by her, but wow, she has gotten SO good with this book!

Knowing the story as I do now, I don't know if I could read it again, knowing what happens along the way. But I cannot remember a book that I wished I had not read so that I could read it again for the first time! If death and darkness do not disturb you, read this, and then let's chat about it! 5 paws for sure!

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts, by Richard Peck

What fun!  This is one of the upcoming OBOB books for the middle division, and it's short, and I was in the mood for something different - this fit the bill perfectly! Author Richard Peck has been writing books since paper was invented (or so it seems), and I have read a few of them, but not in a long while. The ones I read were very good, and this was no exception! I am certain that I can describe the plot to you and most of you would never read it based on my explanation! What Peck does (did...he passed in 2018) as well as anyone is take a simple plot line and make a really fun story out of it! In fact, several times I laughed out loud - out loud! When have you ever heard a pug laugh out loud?! Yeah, probably never! The story is simple, well-written, funny, fun, and very quick to read...I recommend this one, and wished it was a little longer! 5 paws!

Superman, by Matt de la Pena

Book four in the DC Comics chapter book series, Superman being released this past March, I believe, and the first one written by a male author. I have read all four books, in the order they were released (although they are all stand-alone's, so read them in whatever order you wish!), and I'm not sure if it's because Wonder Woman was the first one or if it really IS the best one, but that set a high bar for the others, and none have been able to reach it yet. Like the others, Superman is the story of how Superman came to be. Not being a big super hero fan, I still found a lot of what was written in this book repetitive and very basic. De la Pena did use modern day racism issues as a way to create a main story plot for Clark Kent's coming of age, and a few of the minor characters wanted to be fully developed, but weren't. Unfortunately, I don't think this book hit the mark.

If this is the first book in this series that you read, please don't give up! Give Wonder Woman: Warbringer a chance and see if it doesn't knock your socks off!  As for Superman - not bad, but not great. I did finish it, so there's that...3 paws.

On the Come Up, by Angie Thomas

Book two from this fairly new author, and what a whopper it is! Thomas's first book being The Hate U Give, which I admit I was surprised at how quickly it was turned into a movie (which I can't go see...I tried passing as a service dog once, but it didn't go well...)! That book was good, too, and similar in style. Thomas writes realistic fiction very well, and creates believable characters and believable situations as well as anyone I have read. In fact, I would say she is a master at character development - her protagonist in Come Up, Bri Jackson, feels as much a real person as you or me (well, as you...). Her situation is believable and real, as is her language and imperfections.

Bri is a Black teenager living with her mom and brother in a rough part of town. She is trying to navigate the world around her while also dealing with the loss of her rap star father, all the while framing her own life and experiences in music as well. The language in this book is real and very strong, so if mature language bothers you, you might want to read Kwame Alexander or Walter Dean Myers for equally good stories with less mature language from their characters. I found that the strong language fit the situations the characters were dealing with perfectly, so even though there are a lot of "bad" words in this book, I never felt that Thomas was writing this into the story just to shock the reader - you and me! This is a really good story, and a great addition to what I still feel is an underrepresented segment of teen lit - that of non-White characters dealing with realistic lives in realistic ways.

On the Come Up ended with plenty of room for a sequel, and I ended the book wanting to know more about Bri's story...Thomas has already made her place on the shelf with some of the best teen writers, and her realistic fiction, her "street lit", as it is sometimes called, is as good as anything out there - read this! 5 paws!

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani

There are a number of reasons to be wary of my thoughts on this one...I usually read fantasy because I make myself do it - it isn't a genre I prefer but I know it's important to be a well-rounded reading pug, and I have read a few that I loved! This series has been around a for a few years, and I've always thought about reading it, but since it's an OBOB title this coming season, I thought it would be a good time to give it a go. So, not my favorite genre, reading it because it has been selected for OBOB, and it isn't terribly new and I haven't read it yet...all that said, I wish I could say I loved this, but...I didn't. A really clever idea behind the retelling of the fairy tale, and I believe it is still better written that Chris Colfer's Land of Stories books. I wanted to like it a lot, but it really jumped around way too much for me, and too many of the solutions to things seemed to be too easily created by Chainani just to move the story forward. Maybe I need to read it again - maybe I missed some things, some clever twists that went over my pug head? It's possible, as I watch other reviews of this book and series and they are usually pretty strongly in favor. I just didn't love love it. I liked it, I read the whole thing (over 400 pages) to see what happened in the end...but I don't think I'll read book two, nor am I likely to re-read this one to see if it was just me, or if the story was just okay.

Basically (and I mean very basically), this book takes Good and Evil and turns them on their heads!  I know it's popular (although not the most popular fantasy series in the library, by far), and it's probably better than I thought. If you read it, will you let me know what you thought, and if it blew you away, will you check in here and tell me how it did that for you? Until then, on to the next great reading adventure! 3 paws.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba

This is not a super new book, having come out in 2015 in its adult format, and even having been turned into a Netflix movie, I believe. This is the Young Readers edition, which often works well for me, as it includes all the pertinent information without the extra 200 pages. In this case, this was the perfect version to read - definitely enough to get the story, and any longer might have made me skip some of the pages or chapters.

The author's story of his life in Malawi, a country in southern Africa, is heartbreaking and amazing all at the same time. To be reminded that people in this world, in this day and age of technology and wealth and resources, live (and die) like this is...terrifying? Maddening? Hopeful? A mix of emotions reading this story, but WOW! if William isn't a brilliant, resilient young man. He overcomes obstacles that would squash many of us, I think - even one or two of his obstacles would have stopped me in my tracks. He perseveres, however, and the story has many happy endpoints!

If you like non-fiction and/or biographies, this one is powerful. It took me a long time to get in sync with the rhythm of William's voice, longer than usual, which made me almost skip some parts. I'm glad I didn't, but if you dive into this book, be patient - the story does come together into a satisfying second half, but you have to get past the quirky first half to reap that reward. 4 paws!

Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

A very quick but very powerful read! This is the story of a 7th grade boy who is playing with a toy gun in his neighborhood and is shot by police who think his gun is real. However, there is much more to the story than that, and the more the layers unfold the further we are pulled into the deeply embedded racism that permeates our culture. Ghost Boys tells the story through a variety of lenses, including Jerome, the main character, his new-found friend, his sister, his grandmother, Emmett Till, the daughter of the police officer who shoots and kills him, the bullies at school...Rhodes really weaves a lot of the questions and emotions that an incident like this has on people, a community, and a nation, into a pretty concise story. Historical fiction in the sense that Rhodes brings in Till and other young black boys who have been shot and/or killed in our nation, and continue to be, as the racism our nation was built on continues to infest and infect who we are. I didn't always like the style Rhodes chose to write in, and for a few pages at the start I didn't know if I could continue with the book. But I did, and I'm glad I did, and I think you should, too. This is an important story, and we should all be thinking about it, discussing it, and figuring out together how to make things right. 5 paws!